Introductory And Background Sources

10.1163/ej.9781571053121.i-342.16

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Chapter Summary

Basic tools or background sources provide a variety of information that may be needed before delving too deeply into a research topic. One may need to: find a research guide on your subject; define basic international concepts or terms; locate the meaning of abbreviations or acronyms; find basic background information about an international organization or a specific country; locate relevant Web sites; and locate secondary sources on the topic. This chapter presents a list of international and foreign legal sources that provide these kinds of information. Research guides and bibliographies are excellent starting points because they identify the best sources, both print and electronic, and often address research methods and strategies. Subject searches on online catalogs, bibliographic databases, and periodical indexes, using the name of the organization, are useful for finding descriptions of international organizations.